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Bald is beautiful

Letter to the Editor | Monday, March 16, 2009

In an effort to raise money for cancer, three Notre Dame girls (that I know of), including myself, have decided to shave our heads. In doing this, we hope to raise awareness about cancer and the importance of working together. Donations will go towards St. Baldrick’s foundation, which in nine years has raised over $50 million for childhood cancer research by shaving more than 72,000 heads in 18 countries and 48 US states. This event allows young cancer patients and survivors to be able to see how many people really do care.

I’m sure everyone who is reading this knows someone who has been affected by cancer. Take a second to think about that. That is a lot of people with cancer; even still, more and more people are being diagnosed with cancer everyday. I am fortunate enough to be healthy and to have the opportunity to become involved with this issue, as are the majority of the students here at this University, including you. Look around at how fortunate we all are. You are in college, at the University of Notre Dame. Each and every one of us has been very blessed with the opportunity to pursue our dreams. Some children with cancer may never have the opportunity to go away to college or even have the chance to apply to college for that matter. Realizing this makes hair seem insignificant. Shaving our heads may help you to realize how fortunate you are, especially since cancer is becoming more and more prevalent. I think there is more to life than appearance; so if shaving my head can potentially save the lives of children, or take a step closer, then by all means, shave my head.

This is not at all about me though; nor is it about the others who are shaving their heads. It’s about everyone we know who has, or has had, cancer. This effort involves all of us and we need to work together. These children need the help of the Notre Dame student body, which is known to work together, to live up to our hype. Together, we could potentially save, or prevent hundreds, hopefully more, from cancer. Who knows, maybe today we are even saving our own children in 15 years.

So on Friday, March 20, along with junior Molly McCarthy and senior Meghan Keefe, I am shaving my head. I’m asking you all to sponsor one of us. Go to http://stbaldricks.org/, click on “Find a Participant” at the top of the page, and type in one of our names as a shavee: Tiffany Robak, Molly McCarthy or Meghan Keefe, and SPONSOR US. It doesn’t matter who you donate to, it all goes to the same cause. If you know anyone else, friends or family, who would be interested in donating to our cause, it would be greatly appreciated if you could forward the information on to them. We think it’s worth it, and we hope that you do too.